Ireland says 9 arrests are connected to IRA

(CNN) -- Nine people have been arrested in the Republic of Ireland in connection with dissident activity by the Irish Republican Army, Irish police said Saturday.

Six were detained in southeast County Wexford, where bomb-making equipment was seized, police said. Two arrests took place in County Louth, just south of the border with Northern Ireland, and a gun and ammunition were seized.

The ninth arrest was in County Waterford, on Ireland's southern coast, police said.

The men arrested are between the ages of 19 and 71. They are being held under the Irish Republic's Offences Against the State anti-terrorism legislation and can be questioned for three days without charge.

The Irish Republican Army, also called the IRA, fought a bloody campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland for decades before starting a process of decommissioning nine years ago.